Twist after off-duty pilot tried to down flight in US

An off-duty pilot who tried to down a flight midair told police he had taken psychedelic mushrooms for the first time.

Joseph Emerson, 44, a commercial airline pilot, was charged with attempted murder and reckless endangerment.

The off-duty airline pilot who tried to down an Alaskan Airlines flight midair told police he had taken magic mushrooms for the first time, it emerged Tuesday in the US.

Joseph Emerson, 44, an off-duty commercial airline pilot, went off the rails while sitting in the cockpit jump seat of a flight between Everett, Washington, and San Francisco on Sunday — trying to cut the fuel to the engines before he had to be held down by crew members, New York Post reports.

Even while restrained, Emerson tried to open the emergency doors on the Alaskan Airlines flight as the pilots frantically guided the craft to the ground.

When later interviewed by police he said he had a “nervous breakdown” after not sleeping for 40 hours and stated he had taken psychedelic mushrooms for the first time.

“I didn’t feel okay. It seemed like the pilots weren’t paying attention to what was going on. They didn’t … it didn’t seem right,” Emerson told police, according to the affidavit obtained by KGW8.

Joseph Emerson, 44, a commercial airline pilot, was charged with attempted murder and reckless endangerment. Picture: Joseph Emerson/Facebook

Although the affidavit doesn’t state whether Emerson was under the influence of the mushrooms while on the plane, he later added: “I pulled both emergency shut off handles because I thought I was dreaming and I just wanna wake up.”

After the plane, carrying 83 people, had made a successful emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, the married father-of-two was taken into custody and booked at the Multnomah County Detention Center.

On Tuesday the feds charged him with one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.

He is due to answer further state charges in court later on Tuesday.

Horizon Air Flight 2059 was diverted to Portland International Airport while en route to San Francisco after the incident. Picture: FlightAware

Although all passengers on the aircraft were safe, they were shaken up by the incident.

“The flight attendant got back on the speaker and said, plain and simple, ‘He had a mental breakdown,” passenger Aubrey Gavello told ABC News this week. “We needed to get him off the plane immediately.”

The incident also played out in dramatic air traffic control chatter.

“We’ve got the guy that tried to shut the engines down out of the cockpit and he doesn’t sound like he’s causing any issues in the back right now,” a pilot tells air-traffic control, according to audio obtained from LiveATC.net.

“We’d like law enforcement as soon as we get on the ground and park,” he said.

Emerson was riding in the cockpit jump seat as a courtesy typically extended to off-duty pilots on a flight.

– with Marjorie Hernandez

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission